There is Truth, Love is Real : Redux
by Rainbow-Jess
Summary: Redux of old story  Garfield Logan had hoped to never lay eyes on Raven Roth ever again. Now he must ask her to pretend to be his girlfriend for a week. He's in for one hell of a ride.  AU BBrae
1. Chapter 1

**There is Truth, Love is Real  
(take 2)  
Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer**: I own neither the Teen Titans nor the song "Clark Gable" by The Postal Service, who provided the lyric "there is truth, love is real."

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_His heart was racing as his fingers entwined with his lovers', pulling her gently across the vacant road, snow falling and coating the earth in a thick blanket. He turned around and smiled at her, watching her carefully form a weak smile in his direction, her eyes focused behind his head. His grin dropped and he abruptly stopped, turning to face her, taking both of her small hands in his. _

"_Rae…" He started, watching her eyes fill with panic, feeling her pulse quicken beneath his fingers. Amethyst meeting Emerald, tension filled the space between them. "Rae… Well…" Gar gnawed on the inside of his cheek, unsure of how to begin. He had always felt that this would be more natural… "Well, Raven… We've been together for… for a long time now and…"_

_She dropped her head, black hair falling over her face. He knelt before her, looking up into her eyes, almost missing the crystal clear tears that trailed down one cheek. He reached up, stroking under her eye. "And I really love you…"_

"_Gar," she cut in, "Please don't." _

_He pushed his tall form up slightly to reach her lips, only brushing them softly before catching her gaze again. "Raven… I love you, and I want to spend an eternity with you…" He fumbled through his pockets, pulling out a simple ring, holding it up with a hopeful smile. _

_She pulled her hand out of his so quickly, the friction left a burning sensation in his palm. "I… I can't, Garfield… I'm sorry…" she said as she took a few steps away from him, pulling her hands up to weave themselves in the fabric of her jacket. He shot up, knees soaked, confusing flashing across his features, ring dropping from his fingers as his hands shot forward to gently clasp her upper arm._

"_B-but Rae…" he stammered, pulling her closer to him, fighting against her struggle to be released. "Raven, we've been together for six years… Six!" Confusion quickly swam away, anger taking it's place. "What, you're just going to throw them away?" He exclaimed, ignoring the hurt that pierced her gaze. _

_He glared at her, daring her to bite back. _

_Her eyes dropped, a whispered "I'm sorry…" slipping through her lips as she turned around, pulling her arm from his grasp. "I… I just don't love you anymore…"_

_His emerald eyes followed her slumped form vanish in the white sheeted distance. Shoving his hands in his pockets and pivoting on his feet, he proceeded to walk as far away from that spot as he could, leaving the silver band to be lost in the falling snow._

_**Beep… Beeep… Beeeeeeep**_

He rolled over, slapping the screeching clock before burying his face back into his pillows, ignoring all responsibility that was set for the day ahead of him. He pulled his knees up to his chest, taking a deep breath before releasing all the air in his lungs with a heavy sigh.

It had been fourteen months; fourteen painful, torturous months with the memories of her haunting his dreams almost every night. Gar had spent this time driving aimlessly and disregarding his responsibilities, living off of his parents unused bank account. He was constantly upset, had become a recluse and ignored his friends when they came pounding on his door.

Her voice would reverberate through his head on a daily basis, jumping from sweet _I love you_s to the defeated _I just don't love you anymore_. A frown graced his thick lips, and he rolled over before sitting up in his bed, dropping his head into his hands, and tenderly rubbing his temples.

His eyes darted up to a framed picture on his nightstand and anger flashed through his eyes before his arm shot out, slamming it face down on the surface of the table. He didn't even want to see her face. A sigh slipped through his lips before his train of thought was interrupted by a sharp ring.

Large hands clenched the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white, as he whimpered out a pathetic "Hello?"

"Gar! Sweetie! How are you?" the ecstatic voice shouted through the receiver, his body tensing at the cheery tone.

He nodded to himself. "Fine..."

"Good!" He heard her shuffling through papers. "I was wondering..."

"Yeah mom?" he pressed two fingers against his temple.

"How about you bring that darlin' of a girlfriend over for the week. I want to see her and you engaged! You did ask her right?" His eyes closed, and he took a deep breath, releasing it slowly.

"Yes mom... bu-"

"Good! Then it's settled. You and Raven can come down and stay with us in the Caribbean beach house for the week."

He put his hands out stammering, "But-"

"Alright! I need to go! See you on Monday! Bye Garfield!"

He heard the click of her hanging up the phone through the receiver and just stared at the phone. _Shit, shit, shit! _He quickly hung up and redialed the number that he had commit to memory so many years ago. With a few rings, he heard a breath on the other side of the line, before he heard "Hello, Roth residence, Raven speaking." He opened his mouth, but no words could get out. "… Hello?" she asked, her tone quickly changing to annoyance.

"Okay, if you don't say something in-"

"Hey," He blurted out. "H-hey Rae…"

The silence that fell between them was unbearable. Gar's heart was pounding in his chest, and he was searching for words to say. He let out a sigh of relief when she broke the silence.

"Hello Garfield," she said with a calmness she didn't feel. "Can I help you with something?"

He suddenly became livid. She was so… stoic about everything! "Yeah. I need to talk to you about something. But not on the phone, ok? Let's meet at Starbucks in like an hour, like we used to?"

He heard her audibly gulp and felt slightly victorious. "I… I don't know if that's such a good idea, Garfield."

"Please, just come. It's… It's kind of important."

She sensed the pleading in his voice and complied. "Alright. In an hour then. Goodbye, Garfield."

He hung up abruptly, grumbling to himself as he stormed to the shower.

_Well isn't this fantastic. I was hoping to never have to see her face again, but what am I about to do? I'm about to ask her to be my pretend fiance for a week. Well la di da._


	2. Chapter 2

**There is Truth, Love is Real  
Chapter 2  
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Garfield Logan sat in the corner of a crowded Starbucks, eyes locked on the door, fingers tapping impatiently on the table. He sighed, letting his foot take over the impatient tapping as he lifted his basic black coffee to his lips, enjoying the bitter liquid flowing over his tongue. He smacked his lips together and instantly sat upright in his chair as a woman walked through the door and glanced around the room.

Their eyes locked, and he immediately averted his gaze, locking it with the stained opening of the lid of his drink.

Subtly, his emerald eyes glanced up to take her in. She had let her hair grow, now pulled up in a messy bun, held up with two simple chopsticks, full lips painted with a rich cherry red, body clothed in a black pencil skirt and a tucked in, dark blue blouse. But… one thing was screaming at him like a blaring red siren. There was a smiling, black haired baby propped up on her hip.

His eyes widened as she sat down. "Hello Garfield, it is… nice to see you again." He continued to stare at her, and she shrunk under his gaze. "Um… Hello…?" Raven asked, her heart thudding beneath her breast bone.

"…Who's the kid…?" Gar muttered slowly, thoughts racing through his head, finger pointing with extreme accusation. She grabbed his hand, placing it back on the table before patting the child's head. "This is Luka… My nephew," she said with a smile.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Then why do you have him?"

She bit her lower lip and Gar took a deep breath in an attempt to fill up his chest. "I… I am watching him for her. She had to go on a business meeting and -"

"Wait!" he exclaimed, hands slamming on the table and startling the woman in front of him and the baby in her lap. "I didn't even know you had a sister!"

Raven twirled the child's hair in between her fingers, smiling down at him. "Well… We hadn't spoken for a while… until baby Luka was born." He babbled up at her with elation on his face, and she kissed his forehead before patting his hair down gently.

"You seem attached to him," Gar said with a smile, gaze landing on the icy-blue eyed babe, seeing her smile light up from the corner of his eye.

"Yes… it's almost as if I have him more than my sister does!" she exclaimed with a small laugh. Gar's smile dropped. He was falling for her again. He coughed abruptly, dragging them both back to reality.

"So… right. The reason I called you…" He trailed off and she nodded, egging him on. "Well, before I called you… my mother called me… and well, she wants me to go spend a week with them at the beach house…" His strong hands started twisting a thin napkin between his fingers, spinning it until it was ripping.

"That's great, Garfield… but what does that have to do with me?"

"Well… you know how my mother adores you." Ravens eyes lit up. "And well… I just haven't had the courage to tell her we've broken up."

Her hand slowly rose to the bridge of her nose, rubbing it in frustration. "Garfield…" she mumbled. "It's been _over a year_."

Gar's hands shot out, shaking in defense. "I know, I know… but I hadn't really spoken to her before today!" He let out a huge sigh, dropping his head so he was staring at the table. "Anyway… I uh… I need you to pretend to be my fiance for a week while we go down there. B-but then right after that I'll come up with some story about how we just… something just happened. I'll make something up."

Raven sighed, her hand moving slowly to her temple to rub it. "Garfield…"

"I know, I know… But she… she wouldn't listen to me and she thinks we're engaged and really wants you to come down with me and she wouldn't stop talking long enough for me to explain and she didn't give me her work number so I cant talk to her and have al-"

"Fine."

He tripped over his run on sentence, looking up at her in disbelief. "Wh…what?"

"I said fine." His jaw dropped in disbelief, and she reached over to push his mouth closed. "It is not that shocking, Garfield, that I would do you a favor."

"B-but… we have to pretend to be intimate and… couple-y again…" Raven's eyebrow rose and an amused smile stretched her lips.

"I think we have a fair amount of practice under our belts." She watched as a blush coated his cheeks, eyes falling downcast. "It'll be fine, Garfield."

His green eyes watched as the small baby bounced happily, giggling wildly in Raven's lap. "He's so cute… He looks so much like you… Does your sister look like you?"

She glanced around, and he detected a bit of nervousness but brushed it aside. She never was the motherly type anyway. "S…she does look a lot like me, yes… Just older… Um, Garfield…" she muttered, glancing down at her long fingers. "He will have to come with us… to the beach house… is that okay?"

Gar's smile could light up the room. "Of course! My mother will understand. She'll dote all over him as if he were her own grandchild!" His hands clapped together. "So you'll definitely come, then?" His voice was so hopeful, so thankful… and his eyes, so full of emotion and feelings… She almost let out a whimper of sadness.

Raven nodded with a small smile. "Of course I will." He stood up, arms raised in victory. "But…" she watched his smile drop, hands go limp, and eyes fly down to face her. "What do I gain from this … vacation?"

He fell to his knees and crawled to her, grasping her hands in his. A sharp pain stabbed through her chest, but she shook it off immediately. "My… undying gratitude?" Suddenly, his lower lip jut out, his eyes glazed over, and he peered through his messy blond hair. She let out a hearty laugh and smiled.

"Okay, okay. I can normally resist that little pout of yours, but you just look so pathetic this time… Okay. I'll come. And I don't need to gain anything." She stuck her hand out, waiting patiently for the business-style handshake that she was expecting to come, but suddenly felt a strange heat rise to her cheeks as his hands clasped her face and his lips brushed against her own in the simplest, but most complicated way.

He continued to beam and almost dance in place from excitement, as her lips stung and all she could do was run her tongue over them.


	3. Chapter 3

**There is Truth, Love is Real  
Chapter 3**

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Raven sighed, staring at the clock as she sat on the counter sipping a small glass of wine. There was still an hour until Garfield was supposed to come and pick her up, and she was getting impatient. She had finished packing so quickly…She watched Luka crawl across the floor, losing interest in each toy rather quickly, and simply moving onto the next in an almost endless cycle. She glanced around her fairly bland apartment with a heavy breath, taking another long swig of her drink. There was a knock on her door, and she looked up, startled. Putting her glass down on the counter, she slipped off of the edge, flattened down her skirt and walked quickly to the door, house slippers padding her feet.

Opening the door with a click, Raven stepped aside as her ex slid through the door. "H-hello Garfield… what… what are you doing here?" She pushed the door shut slowly, and kept her back to him as he stood behind her, waiting for her to tell him to take off his shoes, just like she always used to. She had issues with dirt. She turned to face him, and his expectations were met. "C-could you take off your shoes, please?" she muttered, eyes never meeting his.

"Of course!" he muttered, slipping them off and padding through her house in only socked feet. He skeptically sat down on her white couch, sitting up straight on the edge of the seat. His gaze drifted to the girl still standing at the door, one arm crossed over her stomach, clutching the other arm in her hand. "Do… Do you have anything to drink?" Her head snapped up and she nodded.

"Yes… what would you like?"

He hummed before smacking his lips together. "Any alcohol?" he said with a grin, watching her as she walked hastily back towards the kitchen nodding. His smile dropped as he buried his head into his hands, rubbing his eyes. He longed to follow her, wrap his arms around her and press his hungry mouth to hers. Gar was snapped out of his daydream as he felt little tugs on his pant leg. Eyes locking with Luka's blue orbs, he felt a chill run down his spine. "Hey little boy," he whispered, leaning down to pick him up. Instantly, Luka cuddled into his arms. "You're such a good boy…" he muttered, hands petting the baby's head. "Just like your auntie." A smile crossed his lips, and he heard a gentle cough behind him. He tilted his head back to look at the door.

"Wine, vodka or whisky?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Gar smacked his lips together again, sliding his tongue over his slightly sharpened canines. "Whisky sounds good." She nodded and turned to step back into the kitchen. He turned his attention back to the small child. "So Luka," he said, nuzzling the child's head. "Do you like staying with your auntie Rae Rae?"

"Auntie… Rae Rae?" He jumped, turning to face the black haired woman who was standing in front of him with a tumbler of whisky, an amused smile playing on her face. Raven handed him the glass, and lifted the baby from his lap, as he winced at the warmth leaving him. He took a gulp, scrunching his face at the taste, swallowing it with much difficulty. He spun the glass in his fingers and felt her watching him, Luka no longer in her arms, but sitting in a playpen.

"So… why are you here so early?" she asked, leaning her hip against the counter, arms crossed firmly over her chest. He scratched the back of his neck, tugging on the collar of his shirt.

"Well… I figured we should go over some sort of game plan or something… maybe…" he coughed uncomfortably. "Maybe practice being intimate…?"

Thin eyebrows shot up, and she let out an audible breath. "We were together for six years… I don't really know how much practice we need…"

He coughed, looking away from her. "Y-yeah but… But it's been a while and… and well we didn't exactly have a calm, mutual break up…" He trailed off, and stared at the glass in his hands, swirling the dark liquid in circles. From the corner of his eye he saw her sit next to him, and gulped as she slipped the glass from his hands, placing it gently on the table. He almost broke when her fingers slipped into his palm and their knees touched.

Raven ducked her head down, chin tilting up to meet his, mind repeating that this was just business - just for show. "Okay…" she whispered, before brushing her lips against his briefly. They simply stared forward, eyes locking, before he lifted his hands to her jaw, pulling her closer to catch her mouth with more force. Her eyes shut, heart pounding in her chest.

There was a sharp ring of a phone, and they quickly jumped apart. He laughed uncomfortably, rubbing his lips. "Okay! Okay well we're good…" She flew off of the couch, racing to her kitchen and grabbing the phone off of the hook, fumbling with it between her hands.

"H-hello?" she asked, a harshness to her voice she wished wasn't there.

"Hello? Raven? It is I, Kori…"

Raven clenched her chest, taking a deep breath. "H-hey Kori… hold on I just… I just need a minute, okay?" She heard a quiet _Okay _from her friend and she took a few breaths, before walking to the door and muttering "it's Kori… I'll be a little while" and getting a stiff nod in response. Closing the kitchen door, she wandered back to the phone, sitting down to keep herself relaxed. "Hey Kor…"

"Hello Raven, is something wrong?"

"N-no… Garfield just… he came early and… and I'm just flustered, that's all." She rubbed her forehead, taking another deep breath. "So, Kor… what's up?"

She heard a snicker on the other line as Kori mumbled a "Well I believe the sun is up as of now, Raven!" she laughed and Raven smirked at her foreign friend's attempt at a joke. "No, no, I jest. I wished to tell you that I hope your vacation with our friend is quite enjoyable!" She heard a little laugh still escaping from her best friends chest. "Have… Have you explained the situation with Luka to him yet?"

Raven clenched the edge of her counter, scratching her nails on the bottom. "I… I can't do it, Kor… I don't want… I can't have him hating me more than he already does…" She sighed, bowing her head in defeat.

"Yes, but Raven…" Kori started, voice weakening. "He has the right to know…"

"I… I know, Kori, I know." She heard a cry from the other room and she jolted up from her seat, quickly mumbling an "I have to go" and hung up the phone before rushing into the other room. Her eyes glanced quickly around the room landing finally on a worried looking Gar rocking the crying baby in his arms, humming a little song into Luka's ear. She stepped forward, and caught his attention.

"He's calming down," Gar said with a smile. Raven smiled back before walking over and taking the babe from his arms, smoothing his hair down and wiping his eyes with her soft sleeve. She watched Gar move and grab her bags, then stride to the door with a smile at her. "Ready to go?" he asked, gently reaching for the doorknob. Raven held up a finger before grabbing the dirty glass and retreating back into the kitchen.

A few minutes later she returned, giving him a smile as she grabbed a bag of what Gar assumed to be baby supplies before walking over to him and pushing the door open. "Alright, let's head out," she said with a smile.


End file.
